succeed. because america needs a grand bargain to prevent our debt rising to twice the size of our economy and to prevent a recession really, really soon. today fed chief ben bernanke, the man who has twisted and turned to get interest rates to zero to try to help this country said now congress must act. >> i urge congress to come to agreement on that well in advance so as not to push us to the 12th hour. if no action were taken and the fiscal cliff were to kick in in its full size, i think it would be very likely that the economy would begin to contract. >> contract means get smaller. it means recession. and people talk a whole lot about this fiscal cliff, but sometimes, you know, it kind of blurs together. so what exactly are we talking about? to be honest, this cliff is like we're on the top of mt. everest staring down a 29,000-foot crevasse. at the end of this year the bush tax cuts will expire and tax rates will go up. if you pay 10% now, you'll pay

15%. if you pay 35%, you'll pay nearly 40%. at the same time, payroll taxes will go up on everybody. six million americans will lose unemployment insurance. and the so-called sequestration cuts, the $1.2 trillion to cuts in services and defense, they start too. if congress doesn't make a deal, the economy will go back into recession. as our economic strike team member jim biaco reminded us, the debt ceiling has to pass congress on that date too. so the secret talks include some of the patriots that want to do a deal like republican tom coburn and democrat mark warner who have been telling me for a while that they're working on a deal. but there need to be a lot more elected leaders who understand the urgency of this moment and are willing to compromise. chris van hollen of maryland is the top democrat on the house budget committee. he joins me tonight. good to see you, sir. the fed chairman was pleading with you guys today. he really was pleading. are you all still counting on some level the fed could bail

congress out, do something else, some more quantitative easing so the congress doesn't have to act this summer? >> no, we're not counting on that, erin. ben bernanke is exactly right, congress should get its act together, needs to get its act together to prevent the fiscal cliff, which would hurt the economy, and also come up with a long-term plan to reduce the deficit. so we also deal with that long-term issue. there are bipartisan models for how to do this that have been put forward by groups like the simpson-bowles group. i think that's a good framework. so the path toward getting there is clear. the political will, unfortunately, has not been there. >> and it has seemed to come down very explicitly to this issue in the near term, and obviously this is a piece of the grand bargain, but to this issue of the bush tax cuts and whether they go away for everyone -- stay for everyone or only stay for some people and go away for the wealthier, who would receive a tax increase. now, this is a crucial issue.

some of the people on the other side of the debate from you, on the tea party, the ones who don't want to raise taxes at all and have made this a religion have started to compromise. two of the most ardent tea party members, mike lee and rand paul just in the past two days have both said this, and here they are. >> intellectually, though, and this is an important intellectual point, you're all right with some people, all in they may end up paying more than they pay now but you get a simpler tax code and a simpler rate but they could pay more, some people. >> absolutely. absolutely. >> are you also open to a system where by eliminating loopholes, some people would ending up paying more in taxes after the reform than they do before? >> yes. and what we need is a flatter, simpler, fairer tax system. >> why isn't that enough? why can't you guys do a deal if they're saying that on one side? why can't you do a deal? >> erin, if what they're talking about is really a change in the tax code in a way recommended

like bipartisan groups and simpson-bowles which not just simplifies it by reducing the rate and expanding the base but would also generate real new revenue which would be matched by cuts, certainly we could do something. i would welcome those senators actually -- >> hold on, because obviously you're what saying there, you got to the heart of it. what do you mean if you say if i cut the rate and eliminate loopholes, a lot of people in this country, and i'm talking about the wealthy, will pay more. you're saying that's not enough. you want additional new revenue? >> no, i'm saying if you cut the rate and broaden the base in a way that generates additional revenue and maintains the progressivity which is what simpson-bowles and other groups proposed, that would be an important way forward. i do not believe our republican colleagues have put that in the table. i can certainly tell you in the house that is not the case because that is a strict violation of the so-called grover norquist pledge which has been signed by 98% of the house republicans.

so i have not seen -- >> but he has said to me and to others that if you simply the tax system and get rid of loopholes that the wealthier would pay more. now, he thinks we shouldn't get more revenue which is different than some of the other guys, but he's still for the wealthier paying more. >> the issue is taking a balanced approach to deficit reduction, which means combining cuts with additional revenue. that's what simpson-bowles did. that was their framework. if that's what the republicans in the senate are proposing, it would be great to see their plan. i have never seen a proposal put forward by republicans in either the house or the senate that does that at all. so i would welcome that. if they said that to you on the show and they mean it and want to follow through, i'm happy to call them tomorrow to find out if that's what they meant. >> well, let me talk about something that -- i mean they're obviously talking specifically about closing loopholes. i think it's clear what they're saying, which i think is different than you're saying additional revenues. but there's something just, you

know, existentially important here. if you tax people in this country who make over a million dollars at 100%, you get 700 billion, and then you can't tax them again. the debt burden is $15.6 trillion. if you increase taxes on the middle class at 8%, you get more than taxing the wealthy 100%. if we can't be honest about the math here, how can we have an honest conversation about raising taxes on any specific group? >> well, the math you just pointed to is why we need to do a combination. a combination of revenue increases by eliminating a lot of these tax loopholes, and maintaining progressivity, but also cuts. remember, that as part of the budget control act, we've already cut a trillion dollars over the next ten years. what we need to do is find additional cuts and the revenue piece. erin, again, i welcome the

statements that were made on your show. i really hope that what they are agreeing to do is violate the so-called grover norquist pledge, which would be absolutely necessary to putting together a balanced approach. that's what we need to do. >> just to make sure i understand where you're coming from, to try to see if there's really common ground, when you say additional revenue, would you be saying, look, we keep a tax rate where we have two levels or three levels, progressive, but close loopholes so the wealthier end up paying more. i'm not looking for additional new taxes that i'm going to introduce on anybody. is that a place that you would compromise? >> well, there could be additional taxes with respect to folks who were at the higher end under that proposal. if you look at simpson-bowles, depending on where your deductions are, you would see additional revenue. for example, under the buffett rule, which the president has proposed, you would generate additional revenue from people over a million dollars.

if you also look at some of the international corporate tax loopholes, you can also generate additional revenue. that's part of the president's budget proposal that he submitted to congress that's also part of the house democratic alternative budget. >> the buffett rule, isn't it ridiculous to add new rules when it looks like you're avoiding the problem. i'm not saying you, but in general congress. instead of reforming the system, go throw this tax at this person, that person, this person and that person, instead of just fix it and then see how much money you need? >> well, i think the buffett rule can be incorporated into a larger tax reform piece. at its root, the buffett rule simply says folks making over a million dollars should be paying the same effective rate as other americans who are usually working for those folks. >> but you can get that if you simplified the rate and eliminated loopholes. >> you can do it in part but the buffett rule is a back stop that says even after all those deductions, it's just simply fair, to make sure the folks at

the high end of paying a similar effective rate. but look, to get to your overall point, i think it's very important that we work together to avoid the fiscal cliff. one way to do that would be to extend the middle class tax cuts immediately, in fact for 99% of the american people, and replace the sequester with a balanced approach to deficit reduction. what's not helpful are the kind of comments that you heard when you were here in washington from speaker boehner who was threatening that the united states will not meet its financial obligations unless we adopt the kind of austerity measures that we've seen in europe that have been a failure. that is the wrong approach. it undermines confidence and then will slow down the economy when you generate that kind of uncertainty. >> all right. sir, thank you very much. appreciate it. representative chris van hollen. here is a show that is rooting that we don't have any more back stops. solve the real problem. no more buffett rules, this, that, come on. still outfront, 2,000 players join a lawsuit against the nfl. is america's true pastime about to be sacked?

and tensions in greece spilling out physically on a morning talk show. this is really some video. and former president, bill clinton, spoke to wolf blitzer, and he was on defense. >> i did 40 events for him. 40 in the election. skips ] hi, i'm new ensure clear. clear, huh? my nutritional standards are high. i'm not juice or fancy water, i'm different. i've got nine grams of protein. twist my lid. that's three times more than me! twenty-one vitamins and minerals and zero fat! hmmm. you'll bring a lot to the party. [ all ] yay! [ female announcer ] new ensure clear. nine grams protein. zero fat. twenty-one vitamins and minerals. in blueberry/pomegranate and peach. refreshing nutrition in charge!

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our second story outfront. president clinton is sorry. he said it many times. he's very sorry. after going off message from president barack obama. and most of his party by saying that congress should extend the bush era tax cuts for everyone temporarily. now he says, hold on, hold on, hold on, i didn't have my facts straight. >> i'm very sorry about what happened yesterday. it was -- i thought something had to be done on the fiscal cliff before the election. apparently nothing has to be done until the first of the year. so i think he should just stick with his position and then negotiate with the republicans. >> it was very artful. by the way, he didn't say i didn't mean what i said, he just said i didn't mean what i said in november. john avlon is here, michael waldman and margaret hoover. great to have you all with us. michael, let me start with you. what's he doing? i mean, i have to say this. bill clinton knows that the bush

tax cuts expire at the end of the year, not on election day so i don't buy this i didn't know the date. >> here's the thing. with him, whenever he says, you get all these people saying aha, he's so machivellian, he sees all chess moves down the board, this is all to elect hillary in 2022. sometimes he just says what's on the top of his mind and afterwards everybody has to explain what he meant. i think he feels that there can't be a precipitous counter pro-cyclical withdrawal of funds from the economy, that there needs to be a deal. he's used to -- as he said, he's a little rusty. he's used to saying what he thinks. but as a matter of negotiation, he held firm in his negotiations with the republicans on the very same issues that president obama is now saying he's going to hold firm on. so i think that there's a difference between sort of saying what you think as ultimate policy and sticking to your guns on negotiation. i'm sure he knows that and i'm

sure he's been reminded of it in the last 24 hours probably too. >> maybe true. but still, john avlon, what he said was i think they should be extended for everyone. by the way, for anyone who wasn't aware, president obama said he would veto that, absolutely not. >> right. i think he was playing a little bit off the cuff real politic. he said, look, they're going to kick the can to the next guy, everybody knows let's get real. what we're pushing for to avoid the fiscal cliff is that grand bargain. look, bill clinton, he luxuriates being an ex-president but the problem is it's an election season and he's one of the most effective advocates for the democratic ticket and president obama. when he gets a little over his skis, he gets a call from chicago and says you've got to fix this, this is a problem for us. >> margaret, from the republican voice, how much of a victory was his initial statement? kind of the cover-up is always confusing. but everyone will remember what he said, he supports extending them. >> he does and that's not the only thing he said. he also talked about private equity quite favorably and he

also talked about mitt romney meeting the threshold of qualification for president. all of those things create, frankly, a bit of weakness on president obama's part. what he needs to do if he can't -- to the extent he can't run on his economic record is at least create doubt in the populous that president romney isn't qualified to be president so all of these things put together have actually undercut, i think, president clinton's -- i'm sorry, president obama's major argument for weakening mitt romney. >> i do think it's rather risky for the republicans to rely on bill clinton as their validater on economic arguments. he makes arguments on why a more progressive tax code makes sense, why fiscal discipline makes sense, long-term entitlement reform. there's very little daylight between his position and president obama. throw him in that briar patch. >> as long as he doesn't get in his own way. as long as he doesn't get in his own way and get in the principal's way, which is what he's done here which is why

we're talking about him in the first place. you know it better than anyone, you were his speechwriter for seven years. >> when he starts ad-libbing, you're like oh, gosh. >> people are like why did you put that in the speech? >> you've got to love the irony of history when republicans are using bill clinton as a character witness. that's good stuff. >> if he's 16 chess pieces away, let him do it and then say try to impeach me and we'll get them. a family outraged over a verdict in their daughter's death doesn't add up. and later soldiers using bath salts. dr. drew is on the show.

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our third story outfront, a community just outside buffalo, new york, reeling from a stunning verdict. a prominent doctor was driving drunk and texting late one night. he killed an 18-year-old girl while on his way home and he never stopped. he was charged with five felony counts, including second-degree manslaughter. but he's walking away with what amounts to a slap on the wrist and could serve less than a year in prison. now the girl's family is seeking justice in a civil trial. deb feyerick is out front with the story. >> reporter: it happened here. 18-year-old alex rice on her way

home from work at a local pizza place. in the dark crouched on her skateboard, she was rounding the corner when a bmw came up behind striking the teen, throwing her some 50 feet. her neck breaking on impact, leaving her parents shattered. >> it's because she was an awesome human being. she was kindness personified. >> reporter: the driver, dr. james corasanti kept on driving. he just left the country club where he had been drinking during a martini golf night. the doctor admitted hitting something but thought it was likely a deer. >> there was very little damage other than cosmetic damage to an aluminum hood. it was reasonable that the doctor did not know that he had hit a person. >> reporter: at trial, prosecutors produced the crumpled hood of the bmw telling the jury the doctor had been texting and leaving the scene after hitting alex rice.

the doctor was legally drunk five hours after the fatal accident. the doctor's lawyers argued drinking or not, no one could have seen alex in the dark. the verdict? >> it honestly feels like she's been hit and run all over again. >> reporter: not guilty on all counts. >> i was blindsided beyond blindsided. >> reporter: an outraged community accused the doctor of buying his freedom. >> i don't know if money bought a verdict. money bought doubt on the police version of what happened. >> reporter: jurors have received death threats, as have the doctor's lawyers who stand by their case. >> we're glad there wasn't a second tragedy by having this doctor get convicted for something that now we know the people could not prove. >> reporter: the verdict has left a bitter taste in a community that stands firmly behind alex's parents. >> that warms my heart to know that people care, but it doesn't

make it any easier to get through the day. >> it's an unbelievable story. and i know, deb, that the family is going back to court to try to do a civil case. >> that's exactly right. >> do they expect a different outcome? what could happen there? >> it's a different burden of proof. in the criminal trial they had to show criminal recklessness. that the doctor knew he hit somebody and knowingly drove away. the doctor did testify in his own defense over a two-day period. he basically said he didn't know. he simply did not understand while he was driving home that he hit this child. so now the only recourse the parents really have is to take this case into civil court where they can potentially be awarded a sum of money. but is money justice and accountability and that's really what the family wants. >> from what they said it isn't, but obviously this couldn't have been easy for jurors. i know you spent time talking to some of them. how did they make this decision? >> they were shaken, really, really shaken but they had to follow the letter of the law. the letter of the law essentially says that you have

to prove criminal recklessness. because the doctor testified that he didn't know, they simply could not take the evidence and justify the charge. there was reasonable doubt and they did what they had to do. but i don't think that they were happy about it certainly. >> deb feyerick, thank you very much. let us know on twitter what you think about that and the verdict. outfront next, the lawsuit that keeps growing against the nfl. and some just-discovered video that we found of a rally. why hundreds of people were chanting "banish the sleep from the eyes of all the jews." of identity thieves "enough." we're lifelock, and we believe you have the right to live free from the fear of identity theft. our pledge to you? as long as there are identity thieves, we'll be there. we're lifelock. and we offer the most comprehensive identity theft protection ever created. lifelock: relentlessly protecting your identity. call 1-800-lifelock or

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we start the second half of our show with stories we care about, where we focus on our own reporting from the front lines. fed chairman ben bernanke took on congress today, warning lawmakers if they don't act, we're going over the fiscal cliff and u.s. will go back into recession. one of the big issues is the bush tax cuts which are set to expire at the end of the year. we've had republican congressmen come on the show and say they're all right with some paying more in taxes if we get rid of loopholes so i asked democratic representative chris van hollen what he thought about it.

>> i welcome the statements that were made on your show. i really hope that what they are agreeing to do is violate the so-called grover norquist pledge, which would be absolutely necessary to putting together a balanced approach. and that's what we need to do. the fight against government-leaked secrets growing. after meeting with the director of national intelligence, james clapper, congressional leaders from both parties pledged to come up with legislation to halt the leaks. a source told cnn's suzanne kelly that clapper wants more government employees to be subject to an enhanced lie detector test. u.s. defense secretary leon panetta says that the u.s. is, quote, reaching the limits of our patience with pakistan. he's referring to an al qaeda-linked group of militants that are attacking u.s. forces in afghanistan. so we asked ambassador, the csis if that comment from panetta could really hurt the u.s.

he told us pakistan says the same thing about u.s. drone strikes in pakistan, so who's going to run out of patience first, and what will they do? unless washington and islamabad can figure out an answer to that question, this will be a lose-lose for both. well, the south carolina mother battling flesh-eating bacteria has been upgraded to fair condition today. greenville memorial hospital tells us that she has been tentatively scheduled for skin grafting surgery. now, she's actually already gone through 20 surgical procedures, but no amputations. lana was admitted to the hospital on may 11th. she noticed a bruise on her leg was expanding rapidly. it was only four days after giving birth to twins. according to the statement, yesterday was the first time since she came in the hospital she was actually able to see those newborn children. it's been 308 days since the u.s. lost its top credit rating. what are we doing to get it back? what about what china is doing. if they don't get their economic house in order, we could be in big trouble because they're the number one foreign buyers of all

that debt we have. today china cut interest rates to spark its economy. our fourth story outfront, countdown to a crucial election. next weekend's egyptian election pits a mubarak loyalist against a popular member of the muslim brotherhood. a video that sufficient surfaced on youtube shows a cleric energizing a rally with chants. he's introducing the candidate who can win next week. mohammed merci. he is sitting right there on the stage. outfront tonight, the vice prime minister of israel. mr. silvan shalom, good to see you. i want to play this right away for you and get your reaction. here it is. >> okay, great.

>> you know, we are so happy to have a peace treaty in washington, we were so proud to find out that finally the biggest arab country is recognized, the existence of the state of israel. the agreement was followed by jordan a short time after. and what we are getting now is that the peace treaty can last for 30 years only. >> what do you think, though, when you hear that and see all those people chanting and dancing when they say banish the sleep from the eyes of the jews because we're going to be marching on jerusalem? >> it's terrible. it's horrible. it sounds very, very bad.

and when he says it that he might become the president of egypt, it's even more worrying us. but still it's election time. we would like to believe that it doesn't matter, we'll take the leader and they will understand in a short time that in order to run the country, they would have to keep the peace treaty with israel, with the united states and with the whole international community. but we have to get prepared, unfortunately, these days. after 32, 33 years of peace with egypt, we have to get prepared for the worst case scenario. >> do you look back on the days of hosni mubarak and say, god, we didn't appreciate it when we had it? >> i personally met him many, many times and i found him always as a very, very closed to the idea that in order to help egypt and to help the egyptians, you should have good relations with israel and good relations with the united states and with the whole west. that was his idea. that was his ideology and that

helped him to run a country that is a very complicated one. unfortunately, those are coming that never ran any country or any town and they would like to change it dramatically. i hope that it's only for the election time, but what we heard now, what we saw now is so bad that i don't want to think what would be the next step if they will get elected. >> in the meantime, obviously israel has been saying they're going ahead with 851 new homes in the west bank. there's been a real criticism out of the united states over the past two days on that. here's the u.s. state department spokesman mark toner on that. >> we're very clear that continued israeli settlement activity in the west bank undermines peace efforts and contradicts israeli commitments and obligations. >> so israel doesn't -- i mean i'll just be blunt here. israel doesn't care what the u.s. says, right? >> i don't think so. i think that during the era since 1967, we can find two

different -- there is bipartisan supporting israel but bipartisan opposition to the idea of the settlements. it doesn't matter who was in power here in the united states. we think differently. we believe that judari sue mar ya had no sovereignty, never belonged to anyone and we have the right to be there. >> the prime minister told me he supported a contiguous state, no swiss cheese. is that still the goal? it would seem like putting more homes and settlements is exactly the opposite. >> i will tell you something that i really don't like when i give those examples. we had settlements in sinai. we signed a peace treaty in egypt to evacuate them. we had a settlement in gaza and it didn't stop sharon when he decided to evacuate the settlements. so if we are really having partner toward peace, we can

take any decision we want. >> all right. the nfl under attack by its own former players. more than 80 cases involving some 2,000 nfl players were combined today in a single federal lawsuit. the pleasure claim that the league knew that the head injuries they suffered are linked to the onset of dementia, alzheimer's disease and other neurological conditions. in a statement the league said the nfl has long made player safety a priority and continues to do so. any allegation that the nfl sought to mislead players has no merit. but still, there's a crucial question. could this be the end of the nfl? paul callan joins me now. paul, this is a serious question. could this bring down the nfl? >> certainly if these players won this lawsuit, it could bring down the nfl. i mean you're talking about 2,000 players. a garden variety brain damage case can lead to a million dollar verdict. 2,000 players, that would be $2 billion. but these guys, their cases would be worth more than a million dollars. so huge, huge potential damages in this case if they win.

>> leroy jordan, a former linebacker of the dallas cowboys who has gone through some serious complications with memory came outfront last month to talk about what he's going through. let me just play a quick clip of that. >> well, you know, for the last two years, i've been having memory problems of, you know, forgetting things and not knowing what i came in a room to do. and i have become very irritable with my family, my wife and my kids and friends, and that is really disturbing to me because that's not my personality. >> how key are those individual stories and testimony going to be? just the stories, forget the science for a second. >> they're going to be very, very important. that's where the emotion will come from and that's where they'll try to really get a huge damage award from sympathetic jurors. i mean there are families across the united states with players who have dementia, who have -- i mean there have been reports of suicides.

>> yes. we've talked to some of those situations. >> one tragic story after another. now, if you can link that to the injuries and the negligence on the part of the nfl, then maybe you have a case. but only maybe. >> i guess this is the fundamental question. i mean, you know, i enjoy watching football. people are slamming their heads against each other. i mean it seems pretty obvious that there's damage that's going to be done. but that is what the sport is. so people choose to get into the sport. given that there's a choice, how much -- how much room is there for this suit? >> you've hit the problem area right on the head with this, because it's -- lawyers call it assumption of the risk. there are inherently dangerous sporting activities, skiing, motorcycle riding, car racing. we know when we get into those activities we're in a dangerous activity. >> if you fall off your skis and paralyze yourself, you can't sue the ski company, can you? >> no, absolutely not. you cannot. you have to prove that the equipment was defective, that

the league knew the equipment was defective and didn't tell you, and you have to prove something else. and this is where they'll never win the case. you've got to prove that if you knew that the helmet wasn't going to give you adequate protection, you would not have played the sport of football. these guys spend their whole life wanting to be professional football players. >> right. >> and they probably started to sustain damage even when they were in high school, maybe in middle school when they were getting head hits at that point in time. so how do you prove it happened in professional football as opposed to high school or college? there are a lot of problems with proving this case in court. >> everyone, let us know what you think. i know a lot of people who watch the show have a strong opinion on this one, so hit the twitter. still ahead outfront, a fight between political leaders got physical on a morning talk show. i mean really physical. up next, dr. drew on an alarming drug that is being used in the american military. am usa and show our olympic spirit right in our own backyard. so we combined our citi thankyou points to make it happen.

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well it is. in a high-risk area, there's a 1-in-4 chance homes like us will flood. i'm glad i got flood insurance. fred, you should look into it. i'm a risk-taker. [ female announcer ] only flood insurance covers floods. visit floodsmart.gov/risk to learn your risk. we're back with our outer circle where we reach out to our sources around the world. we begin in syria. deaths from the fighting are still rising and secretary clinton said today that peace would not be possible until

bashir al assad steps aside. the problem is russia and china signed a statement today opposing any interference in syrian affairs. with members of the u.n. security council so far apart, i asked our arwa damon if there's any chance of a united front. >> reporter: well, erin, that's the big issue. as long as there is no unified stance, when it comes to significant global players, the situation in syria is likely not going to change. as we heard kofi annan state himself and perhaps stating the obvious, if the situation does not change, the country is on a collision course towards more sectarian violence, more massacres similar to the ones we saw taking place and potentially going towards an all-out civil war. and that is not to mention the fact that the type of vacuum that is created there is one that is so easily capitalized on by extremist groups. erin. >> thanks to arwa. now to greece where a

televised political debate took a very ugly turn when a member of the golden dawn party, that's the right-wing party that's been associated with nazis attacked one of his rivals on the air. he now faces potential legal action. matthew chance watched the debate. i asked him what the heck happened. >> reporter: erin, an arrest warrant has now been issued for the spokesman of that neo-nazi party in greece after this astonishing assault on two female deputies live on greek television. the man from the golden door party on the bottom left, first hurling a glass of water over the desk, apparently offended the mention of his alleged involvement in an armed robbery in 2007. he then turned on a politician from the greek communist party, hitting her repeatedly around the face before the show cut away. incredible, they're all taking part in a live television debate ahead of elections next week. it will be interesting to see how this shocking incident will have an impact on the vote.

erin. >> that's very, very -- wow. now our fifth story outfront. we are hearing about two more gruesome cases of cannibalistic behavior linked to dangerous drugs known as bath salts. this 21-year-old man brandon deleon tried to bite an officer in a drug-fuelled rage. here's what he told the judge. >> your honor, i have no recollection of anything that happened that night. >> police say deleon was on a cocktail of drugs that included something similar to bath salts. in louisiana, police say that this man bit a chunk out of another man's face. his friend told police she thought he was on bath salts. a string of eerily similar attacks following the one that captured everyone's attention, the horrific assault in florida last month when a man chewed off the face of a homeless man. police say he was high, possibly, on bath salts. and now, the marine core times

is reporting the use of bath salts is a growing problem in the military. outfront tonight is dr. drew pinsky. this is truly, truly bizarre. we are hearing about a few cases here that we're pulling together. i mean, what kind of word would we use for this? is this an epidemic? >> it's becoming increasingly common. what's motivating it, the people who use the substances use them to get around urine toxicology screens that's really motivating. environments where the military, where people can get in trouble for using substances, these are environments where someone is likely to go to the smoke shops and buy spice or bath salts. it's so easy to get in california, erin, i walked up the street and bought bath salts. a couple hundred yards from here, i can get bath salts. my staff did it. i want to see how easy that was. you walk in, you show your i.d. to make sure you're over 18.

they hand you the bath salts. but i want to emphasize to people that there's nothing about bath or salts involved in the substance. it isn't calgon. this is a drug that is designed to get people high and not be detected in the urine toxicology screen. >> let me ask you about -- first of all what the active ingredient is. you said it was mdvp. what is that? and why does that cause or in your view would that cause things like this cannibalistic behavior that we have now seen many examples of? >> right, it's a drug and make no mistake, the reason they're so difficult to regulate, they change the molecule slightly so it becomes impossible to regulate and outlaw. exactly how this affects the brain we don't know yet. but we know the consequences. it is to help people understand the effects it's like adding lsd to pcp to methamphetamine. those are sort of the effects we are seeing.

they're rapidly addictive. they cause an excited delirium where people have no insight into what they're doing and this rash of cannibalistic behavior, it may be something related to this increasing epidemic of bath salts or perhaps they each changed the molecules that it's caused this characteristic behavior. it whatever it -- whatever it is, it is dangerous and it's bizarre and violent. >> why isn't there a drug test available for this at this point? >> primarily it's that we can't keep up with it. the same reason they can't be regulated. they're changing the molecule ever so slightly all the time to be sure that it can't be detected and to be sure that we can't get on top of it and regulate it. so it is something that people that produce these things and use it know is the goal -- the end game here is to prevent fro detection. >> so we hear about this in the

military, i know obviously you're indicating, if you can't detect it that could be why the military is so susceptible. i'm thinking there's a zero link to this, it makes me think of that case of the sergeant in afghanistan who killed 16 people. i mean, what sort of risk are we running? >> right. any time you hear somebody -- again, i know of no such link either, i want to state that clearly. but whenever you see stories of bizarre behavior that are bloody and violent, think about these substances. and if now we're hearing almost always when somebody is involved in biting and chewing and bizarre sort of oral aggression, it seems like it figures into almost every one of those stories. yes, it's appropriate to be thinking of these things. i don't know it to be a significant problem in the military. i just know whenever people are trying to get away with substance use, you find spice, you find bath salts. >> well, dr. drew, thank you very much. pretty bizarre. we are seeing moor and more of

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so senator john kerry held a press conference yesterday to talk about a lot of things. but one thing he said that caught my attention. studies show that cranberries can help prevent urinary tract infections. seriously. why is he discussing utis? let me tell you. john kerry, scott brown, and they're all men, they're bipartisan, they have formed the cranberry caucus. this is not a joke. the caucus plans to educate members of congress and their staffs, federal agencies about the importance of cranberries. kerry's berries talked up the health benefits about the superfruit. research indicates it prevents gum disease to those utis. but the thing is, this isn't all about health, but really about money. the cranberry industry is massachusetts's biggest food crop.

it employs more than 5,000 people and brings in $50 million a year. massachusetts produces 2 million barrels of cranberries a year which is about 25% of the total in this country. only wisconsin ranks ahead of massachusetts in cranberry production. hey, maybe you can get a bipartisan congress there on cranberries to solve all their problems. but none of this is that new. why have a cranberry caucus now? one word -- sugar. in the past few months governments at the local and federal levels have been cracking down on the sugary drinks and the cranberry industry is worried they'll get caught up in it. cranberries are very tart. you need a whole lot of sugar. cranberry juice is being lumped in with soda which is bad news for the industry. which is one of the reasons that john kerry and company consider cranberries such a pressing issue. but you know really what the take away from this is, whatever side you want to take on the cranberry issue, we don't need to hear men in washington

talking about urinary tract infections. thanks so much for joining us. we always appreciate it. we'll be back tomorrow. same time, same place.